National briefs

July 31, 2013 12:01 AM

Giuseppe "Joe" Giudice, 43, of Montville Township, N.J., walks out of Martin Luther King, Jr. Courthouse after a court appearance with his wife, Teresa Giudice, Tuesday, July 30, 2013, in Newark, N.J. The two stars of the "Real Housewives of New Jersey" were indicted Monday on federal fraud charges, accused of exaggerating their income while applying for loans before their TV show debuted in 2009, then hiding their improving fortunes in a bankruptcy filing after their first season aired. They are charged in a 39-count indictment with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, bank fraud, making false statements on loan applications and bankruptcy fraud. Joe Giudice also failed to file tax returns for the years 2004 through 2008, when he is alleged to have earned nearly $1 million, the government said. During that time his income allegedly fluctuated wildly; the indictment states he made $323,481 in 2005 and $26,194 in 2006. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)AP

July 31, 2013 12:01 AM

1 of 3 men held captive in home dies

HOUSTON -- One of three men found malnourished and held against their will in a dungeon-like garage of a Houston house has died.

A Houston police statement Tuesday said 79-year-old William Merle Greenawalt died Thursday. Two other former captives, 59-year-old Dean Cottingham and 64-year-old John Edward Padget, are out of a hospital and in the care of Adult Protective Services.

Walter Renard Jones was arrested at the scene July 19, when the men were found. The 31-year-old Houston man remains jailed on two counts of injury to the elderly with serious bodily injury. A message left with his attorney wasn't returned.

Police said the men told investigators they were forced to live in the garage so their captor could cash their assistance checks.

Student abandoned in cell to get $4 million from U.S.

SAN DIEGO -- A 25-year-old college student reached a $4.1 million settlement with the federal government after he was abandoned in a windowless Drug Enforcement Administration cell for more than four days without food or water, his attorneys said Tuesday.

The DEA introduced national detention standards as a result of the ordeal involving Daniel Chong, including daily inspections and a requirement for cameras in cells, said Julia Yoo, one of his lawyers.

Chong said he drank his own urine to stay alive, hallucinated that agents were trying to poison him with gases through the vents, and tried to carve a farewell message to his mother in his arm.

It remained unclear how the situation occurred, and no one has been disciplined, said Eugene Iredale, another attorney for Chong.

The Justice Department's inspector general is investigating.

Chong was taken into custody during a drug raid and placed in the cell in April 2012 by a San Diego police officer authorized to perform DEA work on a task force.

Chong was a 23-year-old engineering student when he was at a friend's house where the DEA found 18,000 ecstasy pills, other drugs and weapons. Iredale acknowledged Chong was there to consume marijuana.

He and eight other people were taken into custody but authorities decided against pursing charges against him after questioning.

4 injured when car crashes into day care

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A car came crashing into a Kansas City day-care center Tuesday when a sport utility vehicle rear-ended a parked Cadillac, injuring the SUV's driver and three children, police said.

The Cadillac was parked and had no driver when the Range Rover rear-ended it, pushing it into the day care and trapping two children under the Cadillac.

The three children were being treated for mild to moderate injuries, said Children's Mercy spokeswoman Jessica Salazar.

The SUV's driver was in stable condition at a hospital, said Kansas City police Capt. Tye Grant.

The injured children were among about 40 inside the Christian Academy Child Care east of downtown at about 1 p.m. when the accident happened.

Police said the SUV's driver was "approximately 80" years old. A utility pole also was struck, Grant said.